Canadian authorities have extended their ongoing travel ban on Nigeria in a bid to mitigate the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
The announcement was made on Tuesday November 30. Other countries affected by the travel ban include South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt.
“We are adding three countries to the list of these countries that we talked about last Friday, these are Malawi, Egypt and Nigeria,” Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos was quoted.
The minister of transport in Canada Omar Alghabra, has said foreign nationals who had been to these countries in the previous 14 days would be temporarily banned from entering Canada.
Alghabra added that Canadians and permanent residents who have been in the 10 countries, even those who are fully vaccinated, must also be tested before entering Canada.
This is following the announcement of the Nigeria Center for Disease and Control (NCDC) that two cases of Omicron variant had been detected in the country.